Pages

April 20, 2008

G20: Red Sox 6, Rangers 5

Joe Girardi got a lot of criticism for not walking Manny Ramirez intentionally back on April 12. Boston, trailing the Yankees 2-1, had runners at second and third with two outs. Instead of walking Manny and pitching to Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded, he had Mike Mussina go after Ramirez. Manny crushed a first-pitch double to right center for two runs, then Youkilis brought him in with a single off Brian Bruney. Boston won the game 4-3.

I thought Girardi received too much criticism for that move; maybe if Mussina had battled Manny for seven or eight pitches before giving up the hit, the outcry would have been somewhat muted. It might not have been the best percentage move, but you could argue that it made sense on some level, considering how hot Youkilis has been this month.

Now ... Texas manager Ron Washington is another matter.

The Rangers led Boston 5-0 when the Red Sox -- after having left the bases loaded in both the fifth and sixth innings -- grabbed a couple of runs in the seventh. Millwood allowed a lot of baserunners, but the Red Sox failed to cash in, leaving 14 men on base in the game.

In the bottom of the eighth, Wes Littleton retired Kevin Cash on a grounder to shortstop and caught Julio Lugo looking at strike three. Three runs down and four outs to go. As I wrote in comments, the game was "in the crapper"; I expected this game to go into the loss column.

But Jacoby Ellsbury singled to left (he reached base three times today and stole two bases). Then Jed Lowrie ripped a double into the right-field corner. Ellsbury sprinted home and Texas led 5-3. At this point Washington went with his closer, CJ Wilson. With two outs and a man on second, the logical decision -- the only decision -- was to intentionally walk David Ortiz and face clean-up hitter Joe Thurston.

Yes, Thurston. Manny had been tossed in the second inning for arguing a called third strike. Handing Ortiz a free pass would have put the tying run on base, but considering the drop-off in batting talent, that was the correct move to make. (Thurston was 0-for-2 with a HBP.)

Yet Washington let Wilson pitch to Ortiz. Flo missed a couple of pitches and fell behind 1-2. After ball 2, he fouled off two more pitches. Then he hit a grounder to short right field. Ian Kinsler was out there because of the shift, but his throw was late and Papi beat out a single. The Rangers seemed to forget about Lowrie for a moment and he ran home. 5-4!

Dustin Pedroia -- who was not in the starting lineup for the first time this year -- pinch-hit for Thurston. He drilled Wilson's 2-0 pitch into the gap in right-center, deep enough to score Ortiz and tie the game. Josh Hamilton's throw back to the infield was wild and Pedroia took off for third. Blalock tried a sweep tag halfway to third. but he missed and FY belly-flopped into third.

(Even if, after this BBI to Ortiz that never happened, Terry Francona had not let Thurston hit, Washington still should have flashed four fingers. He would have had a 5-3 lead, 2 outs, men on 1st and 2nd, and Pedroia up.)

Now Washington went to the BBI, putting Youkilis on. Drew fouled off three 3-1 pitches before getting ball 4. Bases loaded -- Wilson was clearly rattled, but Washington stuck with his "closer". Behind in the count 1-2, Sean Casey took two very close pitches inside before walking to force in Pedroia with the go-ahead run.

The lead now gone, Washington went to the bullpen and brought in Jamey Wright, who retired Cash on a fielder's choice.

Jonathan Papelbon needed only seven pitches to nail down the victory. Wakefield went eight innings, throwing only 86 pitches (10-12-10 7-7-15 13-12). And of his 86 pitches, only 18 were balls! For Texas, Millwood threw 17 balls to the first nine Sox hitters.

Pitches out of the strike zone, by innings:

133 014 33 - 18

Wakefield allowed a home run to Kinsler on his third pitch of the afternoon and Milton Bradley hit a three-run bomb in the sixth, but he gave the pen some much-needed rest and through Washington's stupidity -- and his resilient teammates, of course -- got credit for the win.

Cafardo: "Terry Francona indicated he may give Manny Ramirez a day off Monday, but only if Coco Crisp is ready to play after nursing his hamstrings the past few days. Jed Lowrie is starting at his third position - second base - after Francona decided to give Dustin Pedroia a rest."

Did you see that the Jays released Frank Thomas? That should put Wake in high spirits today, not to mention Manny DelCarmen. Gee...how many legitimate pennant contenders release a member of the opening day line-up before May?

Just something from the other night about sauce and Newman's Own was brought up.....All of his sauces contain sugar.......As do most jarred sauces....and i also know many Italians who add sugar. and many people who are just good cooks and not italian who add sugar.....So , Jere you are not a bad man for adding a little sugar , but you are gangsta'

“I don’t know that we have the luxury of waiting two to three months for somebody to kick in because we can’t let this league or this division get away from us,” Ricciardi said.

To me, this is kind of incredible. Speaking of "luxury", do they have the luxury to get rid of the guy who led them in HRs and RBIs last year because of a medium-sized slump?

There must have been a massive personal conflict to cause this kind of thing to happen. I know Hillenbrand is an asshole and everything, but this really makes you think the Jays have some relationship issues. Reduces any fear I had of them a little.

I saw in the paper yesterday that he was pissed that Gibbons was giving Stairs what he thought was his playing time.

I heard during the game yesterday that Thomas got dressed and walked out during the game, b/c he was so pissed off about not playing. I heard this on Red Sox radio, so accurate or not, I can't say. But if it's true, they had to release him. Raul Mondesi redux.

I remember last year the game was scheduled for 10:05 AM, although it rained a lot and they started it later. It was against the Angels, so I was thinking about how weird it would be, to be an Angels fan and have to wake up at 7 AM to watch your team play a game.

anybody else see the story where girardi had nyy officials call eveyr visiting ballpark and make sure they removed the ice cream and snacks and candy from the locker room so the yankees can't have any?

Why does Francona pick Wakefield games to use the B team? Isn't the catcher enough? Cash, Lowrie, Casey, now Thurston (thanks Manny!). Jeez.But you'd also think it would motivate Wake not to give up 3-run homers....

L, I don't know if you avoid sugar for a reason.....but I have done some little resarch on foods with sugar in them seeing my dad was diabetic....and a lot of foods you think are actually good for a diabetic...turn out to be horrible for them....

About the game, does anyone else feel if though Manny is in there we are winnig this game right now...obvious statement I know.....But Manny has been hot under the collar all season thus far (with the umps)

By the way, Laura, if you recall my earlier bitching about so-called experts picking the Jays, I certainly do NOT consider them legit contenders, and haven't since the 90s. My point on Thomas was that releasing your clean-up hitter in April is not the sign of a contender, but the sign of a team that 1) didn't have much of a clean-up hitter and 2) is willing to make personnel changes on principle because they don't really think they are going to win anything. You say they had to release him, but that's just because he's washed up. You wouldn't say the Sox should release Manny if he pulled that on a bad-Manny day, and neither would I.